Socrates’ admonition to “know thyself ” is relevant to all leaders, but perhaps especially so to entrepreneurs. Founders are wise to reflect inward before building outward: What are your purpose and values? What is your vision for your life? What are the key goals in the different areas of your life? What is your tolerance for risk? What are you willing to give up to make your venture succeed? What kind of culture do you want to establish?
These questions will be answered, by either conscious choice or default. Excellent, ethical, and enduring organizations do not magically appear without conscious and persistent effort–you need the right fit.
Employee Fit: We interviewed Andreas Ehn, co-founder and chief technology officer of Wrapp, a digital gift card service launched in Sweden in 2011 using mobile applications and social media. When asked about the keys to leading high-growth, technology-driven startups, Ehn told us, “If you can get only one thing right, it’s recruiting. You need to find excellent people who are a good fit and outstanding in their fields. Everything else is secondary.”
Recruiting is tough for startups because they have very little that is tangible at the outset, and they lack brand recognition. Founders must explain their vision and convince talented people to take a leap of faith, forgoing higher salaries and greater security elsewhere. They have to believe.
Complementarity. Entrepreneurs must go beyond recruiting people with head and heart. They need to recruit people whose skills augment their own. Technical founders who are weak in finance or sales, for example, should not just hire other techies. It is essential to have a detail-oriented person on the team—a point overlooked in many new ventures.
Entrepreneurs should hire for the skills lacking on the team, while ensuring that new recruits share the dream, have integrity, and fit the culture. Entrepreneurs must build a complementary team, with people who enhance one another’s capabilities, making a more balanced or complete whole.
Recruiting is not an exact science. Even the best organizations, without the time and resource constraints of a startup, make mistakes. Candidates put on their interview faces, sometimes feigning interest or exaggerating expertise. Bad hires are costly to startups, draining energy, momentum, and money. Some walk away with valuable intellectual property, trade secrets, or proprietary ideas.